Gone
by TheVex
Summary: What would happen to Annabeth if Percy died? Read to find out! Rated M for drugs, alcohol and self harm.
1. Chapter 1

**Well here's sort of a sad story. **

**Disclaimer: Do I look like a middle aged man to you? No I don't. So that's a no on owning PJO and stuff. All rights to their respective owners. **

Third Person

Annabeth pounded her clenched fists against the wall of the Athena cabin in frustration. Sobs racked her body and tears stained her face. She took her knife and made another tally mark on the wall. A total seven marks had accumulated. A total of seven months she had been broken. A total of seven months, he had been gone. Perseus Jackson, the love of her life.

She heard the door of the cabin open and close. She knew someone had entered. She didn't care; her siblings were now used to this. For the first couple of months Annabeth couldn't even leave her cabin without seeing something that reminded her of Percy. She would break down almost instantaneously.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. A strong one, but comforting. So much like someone else she knew... But this hand belonged to her brother Malcolm.

"You alright, Annie?"

She stiffened at the nickname.

"Please, don't call me that." She didn't mean to use the tone she did. Malcolm looked hurt, then accepting.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth." He wrapped her into a hug. He always was the comforting younger brother. She sobbed into his arms for a while. Eventually, the conch horn sounded in the distance, the signal for dinner.

"We should go," he said, wiping her eyes. She wanted to just stay and cry. But that's all she's been doing for seven months straight.

**Yeah... I know it's short. I just need somewhere to start. Please review this little snippet. For me? :)**

** I promise other chapters will be longer. Just bear with me while I accumulate ideas. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter two for you guys! Writing sad stories is kind of fun, to be honest... Maybe I'm just screwed up. Anyways, enjoy!**

**Also, shoutout to ChaserMoonstone for being the first awesome reviewer! :) **

It was dinner and everyone was in the pavilion, eating. Everyone except for me of course. I just kept my head down, hoping no one wouldn't notice me or talk to me. I was wrong of course. Everyone wanted to talk to me. Don't people know that after a tragedy people really just want to be alone? Well I guess this was seven months later... But should that matter? No. It shouldn't. It can't.

I decided I wasn't just gonna sit around all day and do nothing. I walked back to the Athena cabin and found it empty. Good, that meant no disturbances. I walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. I stared into the mirror. The person facing me had huge bags under her eyes, messed up hair, tattered clothes and basically all of the elements of a homeless person. Why did he have to go? Why did he have to leave me in this hellhole of a world? Where someone can't leave a god damn camp without getting killed! But getting killed wouldn't be so bad. Not anymore. Now that Percy was waiting for me on the other side. Should I do it? Should I kill myself?

I brought out my knife. I held up my left arm and held the knife over it. I didn't take my eyes away from the person in the mirror copying my every move as I slid the blade over my soft flesh. There were sparks of pain as the blade cut deep enough to draw a good amount of blood. After the first line had been made I continued. Biting my lip, as not to cry out from the pain.

Eventually, the cuts were done. Blood covered my arm and had dripped onto the floor. I stared at my new treasure. A huge series of cuts that made up one word.

GONE.

There was a knock at the door,

"Hey Annabeth, you okay in there? You've been in there for an awfully long time..." It was Malcolm.

"Yes," my voice wavered. "I'm fine. I just needed to be alone." Malcolm sighed from the other side.

"I'm sorry Annabeth. I wish there was something I could do. Anyways, some of your friends from the other camp have arrived. You know, the roman one. They want to see you." For a moment, I actually felt a small smile on my face. But it was instantly replaced with a grimace as I saw my left forearm. What would they say if they saw? What would Malcolm say? I'm not going to risk it. I'll hide it.

"Are they here now?" I asked.

"Uh... I think so. They were hanging around the pavilion a while ago. I left there to try and find you."

"Oh. Well, I'll be right out."

I frantically looked around for something to cover my arm. I found it. I instantly burst into tears upon seeing it, because it was one of Percy's old sweatshirts. One that he always used to wear. I had forgotten that he left it here the night before... He left. I felt anger flood through my body. How could I be so stupid? It's all my fault he's gone! I shouldn't have kicked him out for one comment! I screamed and punched the wall. Pain shot up my arm. My hand went numb but I didn't care. I punched again. And again. And again. Until my right hand was reduced to a mangled, bleeding mess. Damn, now I need two coverups.

"Annabeth! Are you alright?" Malcolm frantically screamed, pounding on the door.

"Yeah I'm fine. Uh... I just saw a spider." Spiders don't scare me anymore. Not after Tartarus. The things in there were spiders to the power of ninety thousand.

"Oh ok. Is it gone?" Malcolm asked, with a tinge of fear.

"Yes. I'll be right out." I threw on Percy's sweatshirt. It smelled exactly like him. It smelled of salty ocean air. I couldn't help it as fresh tears flowed out of my eyes and down my face. I hugged myself, in an attempt to hug Percy. All I felt was my arms around myself.

I straightened the sweatshirt, put my broken hand in my pocket and left the bathroom.

"Wait, is that..." Malcolm trailed off.

"Yeah," I said, with fake cheerfulness. Malcolm didn't say anything else as I sauntered out of the Athena cabin and towards the pavilion.

No one was there. It was just empty and cold. I sighed and thought of a better place to go tonight. I decided on the beach. That was where Percy and I always used to meet after hours.

I practically sprinted to the beach. When I got there, I plopped myself down in the sand. I muttered Percy's name. All of a sudden I was overwhelmed with the scent of the ocean. It was almost as if Percy was right next to me. But he wasn't. He was gone. And nothing could change that.

I rolled up the sleeve on my left arm and stared at my cuts in the moonlight. I took out my knife, it was difficult because of my broken hand, and started cutting into the already made cuts. Now the word was a couple times deeper than it was earlier. Blood now stained Percy's sweatshirt. I gasped when I noticed them. How could I be so stupid? I ruined maybe the last relic of him! I cried out in frustration as I stabbed my arm with my knife. Pain unlike before shot up and down my left side. I glanced at my left arm and screamed. Not out of pain, but out of fear. I had stabbed all the way through. The hilt stuck out the top and the blade stuck out the bottom. I slowly pulled the knife out, which resulted in blood being poured out onto the ground. I looked for something to staunch the bleeding, but came up empty. All except for Percy's sweatshirt. I wasn't going to ruin it further. I held my hand over it, in an attempt to stop the flow of blood. The blood simply wouldn't stop. I knew that if you cut your wrist you'd bleed out in a couple of minutes. But I stabbed farther up my arm. Not even close to my wrist. You could still bleed out then, right? I didn't have time to answer myself, for a wave of weakness and nausea passed through my body. I felt lightheaded so I leaned against a small dune of sand. I let my bleeding arm fall to the ground. The bleeding wasn't going to stop. I gave up. I glanced down at my bleeding arm and saw something that glistened in the moonlight. It was one word, surrounded by blood. My blood.

Gone.

**So sad :( I feel terrible for making Annaeth do this. Anyways, review! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here you go guys, chapter 3. There's not much "action" in this one. Enjoy! :)**

**_Annabeth_**

I saw darkness. Nothingness. I couldn't feel. I couldn't speak or move. Everything was just... Gone. I felt scared for a moment, but then realized something. I'm dead. Or am I? Wasn't I supposed to be in the underworld right now? All I saw was darkness, definitely not the underworld. Where Percy was.

Suddenly, I saw a bright light. No, it wasn't what mortals used to describe heaven or whatever. It was literally a ceiling lamp. My senses started returning to me. I felt enormous amounts of pain in my arm. My vision slowly came into focus and I noticed that I was in the big house. I was in the infirmary.

I tried sitting up, big mistake. As soon as my head left the pillow I felt so lightheaded, I swear I passed out again. But soon enough I was back. I decided against sitting up this time and took a moment to observe my surroundings.

For the first time since my awakening, I noticed someone slumped in the chair next to the hospital bed. It was Thalia. Even while she was sleeping she looked exhausted. Obviously she had stayed up worrying about me. Why do people care? I wanted to die.

I experimented with my left arm. I tried lifting it, which resulted in another bout of excruciating pain. I tried shifting it slightly, even more pain. There was nothing I could do. I eventually decided on waking Thalia.

I nudged her slightly,

"Hey, Thals. Wake up."

She mumbled something incomprehensible. I shook her more, a little harder this time.

"Thalia! Wake up," I scream whispered. She stirred and sat bolt upright.

"Annabeth..." She stared me down. I could see a bunch of emotions. Anger, worry, betrayal, sadness. "Annabeth! How could you do this!" She screamed at me, getting out of the chair and facing me. I felt the tears coming.

"Sorry," I said weakly. It was all I could manage before she went on yelling.

"Sorry? Annabeth, sorry doesn't even cover it! I found you down at the beach. You were half fucking bled out! You were so weak that you were practically already dead!"

"It's too bad I didn't die..." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?" Thalia asked, still angry. She held a hand to her ear inquisitively.

"Nothing," I spat.

"Annabeth, I was so worried about you." I looked up from the ground and saw tears is those shockingly blue eyes.

"I... I don't know what to say," I said flatly.

"Annabeth, I don't need two of my best friends leaving me." She was sobbing freely now.

"Thalia-"

"No! Just... Don't do this again." With that she left the room, slamming the door behind her.

I was frustrated beyond belief. I wanted to break something. I wanted to break myself. This is all my fault. Percy wouldn't be dead if it wasn't for me. Thalia wouldn't be hurt if I hadn't tried to kill myself.

I'm a terrible person. I should just end it.

But how?

There was no way I could move. I realized this in my third attempt at getting up. I was strapped to the hospital bed. I looked around for my knife. I couldn't find it. Well of course I wouldn't be able to find it. I had recently attempted suicide with that knife, so I doubt they'd have it handy for me.

I resorted to trying to undo the bindings. Nothing worked. They were magically locked. Someone walked in while I was in mid struggle with the leather straps.

"Struggling won't help, Annabeth."

It was Chiron.

I gave up on my attempts at freedom and looked at him. He was in wheelchair form and was staring me down. What was that in his eyes? Pity? Disgust? It was not pleasant.

"What do you want?" I yelled at him. His scowl deepened.

"I came in to check on you. Thalia wouldn't tell me."

"I'm fine," I lied.

"Sure looks like it," he muttered.

"Hey! It's not you lost someone you loved!"

Chiron tensed. I expected him to yell at me in return, but he simply turned his wheelchair around and started towards the doorway. Halfway over the threshold, he turned his head slightly towards me,

"You have no idea."

The door closed softly behind him. What have I done? Now Chiron thinks I'm a horrible person. Well, I guess I am. None of this would've happened if it wasn't for me. I should just end it. I should free the world of me. I again tried working on the straps.

Eventually, I gave up. Sleep was pulling on my eyelids. I held onto one thought as sleep overtook me. I'll do it when they let me out.

_If_ they let me out.

**Thanks for reading! Review please :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, got another chapter for ya :) Enjoy! Also, things get wonky. **

Consciousness soon became a thing of the past for me. I was never fully awake anymore. Only the gods would know why. But I don't care, I actually prefer it to being awake. I would occasionally catch a little bit of conversation every now and then. Most of them revolving around my health or how I was doing. One day stood out above all others, however.

I was more awake than I should've been. Because I could partially open my eyes. I squinted around the room, trying to find any sort of detail that could tell me when I got let out. Naturally, that was my first thought. No, it wasn't if I would wake up completely; because honestly, I sort of liked it this way.

I glanced down at my body. Sadly, I was still strapped in this stupid hospital bed. There was no escape. I was about to attempt to move when the door opened softly. The footsteps were heavy. And I could hear the clicking of hooves on the tile floor. It was Chiron. I was about to try and talk to him, but he beat me to it.

"Annabeth... Why?" His voice sounded so pleading. So broken. I tried to respond, but found that my mouth wouldn't work. I tried swiveling my eyes around but I couldn't. They were locked looking down my body. What was going on? In one final attempt at moving, I used all of my strength and pushed up with my elbows.

I screamed as I flew out of the bed and onto the floor. I brought myself up and saw Chiron staring at me. He took a step forward and reached out to touch me. I walked forward and hugged him.

I walked right though him.

It took me a couple moments to recover from shock. It gasped when I saw my own body, still strapped to the hospital bed. I looked peaceful and calm. It was almost as if nothing was wrong.

But everything was wrong. Percy was gone. Nothing could change that.

"Chiron!" I shouted, hoping he would hear me. He didn't even flinch when I shouted into his ear. He simply continued looking down at my body. What was happening? Was I a ghost? My brain went into overdrive as I heard a voice behind me,

"You ok, Wise Girl?"

* * *

I whipped around. Standing there, was a man with untidy, raven black hair and sea green eyes that changed color when light reflected off them.

"Percy?" I breathed.

"Yeah?" he said, nonchalantly.

"Percy!" I yelled as I jumped into his arms. He just stood there as I ran through him. I started tearing up as I turned around and continued to try and grab him.

"Annabeth, stop. It's impossible," Percy said, his voice shaking little. I stopped my futile attempts and looked up into his eyes. They were also filling with tears.

"Oh Percy, this is all my fault!" I sobbed. He tried to wrap me into a hug, which ultimately failed. He looked disappointed.

"No, it's not your fault. It's mine," he whispered. It was somewhat awkward, seeing how there was almost no way he could comfort me by hugging or anything.

"Don't even try being chivalrous Percy, it's all my fault, admit it." I sat on the ground, sobbing into my arms.

"Annabeth no. Stop. It's not your fault. After you kicked me out I kinda... Got drunk..." He trailed off.

What? Percy never drinks. He's never even talked about it!

"What?" I breathed.

"Annabeth, after that fight I felt so terrible I went and-"

"Please don't say it," I cut him off. He looked surprised.

"Say what?"

"That you, the hero of Olympus, died from drunk driving!" He looked taken aback, then burst out laughing. At what point did this turn into a laughable matter? Oh right, it didn't. I swear, if we didn't just pass through each other, I would slap him.

"What about this is funny?" I asked incredulously.

"That would be kind of ironic," he laughed. "The hero of Olympus dying from something that stupid." He wiped his eyes.

"I'm being serious. Did you?"

"Of course not," he said, taking on a more serious demeanor.

"Then what?"

"Uh... Water."

"Water?"

"Water."

"Care to elaborate?"

"No."

"You're a god damn son of Poseidon, Percy. You can't just... Drown."

"I can if I want to..." he practically whispered. He wasn't expecting me to hear.

"You killed yourself!?"

"I'm sorry!"

"Percy, sorry doesn't cut it! Do you have an idea how bad this has been for me? I would've understood if you went down like a fucking hero, but this? This is horrible! Cowardly even!"

Percy seemed to be trying to shrink back into the shadows.

"Listen," he said gently. "I just felt so bad about the things I sad that night. Depression, combined with alcohol doesn't really help my underwater breathing. Normally I can't drown even if I wanted to. It's not like me staying dry in water. It's not a choice normally. I just felt so bad..."

"Oh Percy... I would've forgiven you if I knew how bad you felt! Why didn't you just say so?"

"I tried!"

"Uh huh."

"You kicked me out, literally," he spat.

"You pissed me off, literally."

I stared at the ground.

"I was hoping this was going to go differently. Hades doesn't normally let this happen. I had to go through a lot of shit to even talk to you and all I get it a fucking argument," he snarled. He stared at me. His sea green eyes were a deep green. Dangerous and mysterious.

"Percy, don't go!" I was now sobbing again.

"Sorry." With that, he disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

I woke up, breathing hard. My eyes fluttered opened and my eyes watered from the bright light.

"Annabeth! Oh thank gods you're awake!" Thalia said as she engulfed me in a hug.

"What happened? Where's Chiron?" I said stupidly.

"You've been out for like, three days!"

Three days all for one conversation with Percy? Damn.

"Annabeth, I'm so sorry I yelled at you," Thalia practically sobbed into my shoulder. I was still strapped to the bed, which made thing kind of awkward when I couldn't hug her back.

"It's fine Thalia. I was never angry... At you," I added.

"What are you talking about?"

"Sorry. It's just that this is all my fault. Me almost dying and Percy..." Thalia clenched up at the mention of Percy's name. She relaxed a little and said,

"Oh Annabeth, nobody blames you for Percy." She rubbed my shoulder comfortingly. I looked up into those bright, blue eyes,

"I do."

**So... Yeah. I know, Percy's appearance is kind of weird. But don't worry. It all fits in, hopefully. Review please! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**So... This chapter is pointless. But it's a bit ok. It's just kinda an add on to the last chapter. But aren't all chapters add ons? Anyways, I've been depressed lately so writing isn't high on my priority list. But I'll try :) Also, writer's block doesn't help :/**

_**Annabeth**_

Thalia simply stared at me.

"What do you mean?" She asked, "You had nothing to do with it."

"Yes I do. It's all my fault he's gone." I barely finished my sentence as a new series of sobs escaped my mouth. If possible, Thalia hugged me tighter; she was trying to quiet me and was whispering comforting words.

"Annabeth, calm down and tell me what happened," she said firmly.

"Well, we had a fight. It was our first one. And we were in my cabin while everyone else was eating dinner." I stared up at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact.

"And?"

"And... We both said things both of us regret. I may have overreacted when I kicked him out." I could feel my throat tightening.

"It's not like Percy to just leave when someone tells him to..."

"I literally kicked him out."

"Annabeth!"

"Sorry! He was just... He was being so mean!"

"So you kicked him out instead of being rational!?"

"Rational!?"

"Yes! You're a daughter of Athena! If you say it's all your fault he's gone then you should've planned ahead or something! Like you always do!" Our screams caused my ears to ring.

"Well I didn't plan on him practically drinking himself to death!"

Everything went silent. The only sound I could hear was mine and Thalia's hard breathing.

"He drank himself to death?" Thalia asked. Barely a whisper.

"Well, not really. But he was drunk when he died."

"You must've done something horrible to make him drink. You know he's against it." I couldn't help it as more sobs racked my body. Thalia also seemed to have teared up a while ago.

"It wasn't even something good to fight about!" I admitted. "I don't even deserve to live!" I strained against my bonds.

"Annabeth, stop. Even if this was your fault, suicide isn't the answer," Thalia whispered, surprisingly calm. I swiveled my head to the right and saw that she seemed to have composed herself, whereas I was still a mess.

"Then what is?" I screamed desperately. She stared at me, clenching her jaw. She was probably trying to think of an answer. Finally she had an answer that I didn't want to hear.

"I don't know."

**So... Yeah. I obviously have writer's block. Sorry :/ This chapter was pretty much pointless. And life sucks right now. I'll keep trying to write :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys. Sorry but I might not update this story for a while. IT'S STILL GOING TO BE UPDATED. I just won't for a while. I just don't feel like it for a while. Some shit happened in my life and I can't really get around to writing right now. I'm very sorry. **

**Don't give up even. Even though I might. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, so guess what? That's right! I got a new chapter up! Hooray! And we'll be taking a very well deserved break from all of the depressing stuff. :)**

_**Annabeth**_

I slammed my fist into the head of my sparring partner. I knocked his sword out of his hand a couple of seconds ago.

He was some random kid from the Apollo cabin that thought he could take me. He had guts, I'll give him that, but there was only one guy I know that could actually beat me. Well, _knew_.

I sighed and held out my hand to the Apollo kid.

"Thanks," he said, grimacing.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's fine. All of my siblings were telling me this was a bad idea." He clutched his side as he hobbled away from me. Glancing back at times, probably making sure I wasn't following him.

"Hey, I didn't catch your name!" I called to him.

"Oh," He jumped. "It's Jeremy." He stopped and turned towards me. He bent over in some sorof bow like gesture. I didn't say anything as he turned back around and made his way out of the arena. It wasn't long until he was surrounded by people that were bombarding him with questions and comments like,

"Did you beat her?"

"I knew you wouldn't win."

"She's pretty."

"Why did you even try?"

"How much does it hurt?"

"It looks like you broke a rib."

I cringed a little at the last one. I didn't mean to hurt him as bad as I did, honest. But maybe I did dent him a little too hard.

I sheathed my knife and gathered the belongings that I had brought to spar. There was nothing much, just some armor that I had lying around.

My breath caught in my throat when I noticed something on my left arm while unzipping a small duffel bag.

Gone.

It's been almost a month since Chiron decided to let me roam free. They'd put me on some sort of anti-depressing medication. To be honest, it worked. For the most part.

There are times when I feel extremely depressed. But when someone you love leaves, I guess that's bound to happen.

Thalia is in constant worry that I'm going to try and commit suicide again. I always have to remind her that that night was my lowest point. It was never going to happen again. If I could help it.

Even over this period of time, one thing still hadn't left my mind, no matter how hard I tried to forget it.

Percy.

I had seen Percy in ghost form that night. I'm sure of it. I'd tried telling Thalia and Chiron, but they said such a thing was impossible and Hades would never allow it. Truth be told, I don't really think Hades would allow it either, but I saw it with my own eyes. It's been troubling me so much, I've been trying to contact Percy these past couple of nights. I've been trying to do that ritual where you gather a bunch of junk food and summon the dead. But I guess I was doing it wrong because the closest I got to anything paranormal was a small rustling in the bushed next to me. I'm also pretty sure that that was simply a rabbit.

I'm also always constantly reminded by the scars on my arm. The ambrosia and nectar had taken away most of the damage, but it left small, white scars. The kind the never go away and are pretty much always visible. I had to wear long sleeves all of the time to avoid people asking me about it. I could most definitely never go swimming again, which made me depressed again. I'd always go down to the beach to try and feel closer to Percy.

I'd say I've done a pretty good job at hiding the scars, because not even Chiron has noticed. I was expecting the All-Knowing Centaur to at least take a hint. Either he didn't really care about asking me about it or he really hasn't noticed.

One day however, I made the mistake of wearing short sleeves because of the weather. I had talked myself into wearing a tank top that day; I practically spent half an hour shouting into the bathroom mirror. When I left the bathroom, most of my siblings were giving me weird looks, but none of them noticed the clearly visible scars. I thought I was in the clear.

I thought wrong.

As soon as I left, Thalia caught up to me.

"Hey Annabeth! I'm glad to see you're out and—" She stopped mid-sentence. I looked away from the tree I was staring at and saw her staring at my left arm. I made a move to try and hide it behind my back but she was too quick for me. She lunged and grabbed my arm before I could even move it an inch. She turned it up and the sun reflect off my scars.

"Annabeth Chase! What are these?" She demanded.

"Don't worry Thalia, they're from before," I tried to reason. I knew that there was pretty much no reasoning with Thalia Grace.

"That doesn't make it right!"

"Well, would you rather I had made them this morning? I'm sorry, alright? I didn't want anyone to know."

"How come I didn't notice this when they were fixing your arm in the hospital?" She asked, mildly interested, but still angry.

"It was probably because of all of the blood," I said impulsively.

"Oh, right." Thalia directed her gaze to the ground and dropped my arm. She rushed towards me. At first I thought she was trying to kill me, but I soon realized that she was hugging me.

"Uh.. Thals? You alright?" I asked.

"Annabeth, I'm so, so sorry."

"Sorry for what?

"Percy," Her voice sounded somewhat choked up. "I know that this has been the hardest on you. I just don't know how to help."

"Thalia, I hate it when you say you're sorry. He's gone because of me, remember?" Thalie released me from her grasp.

"I told you to stop blaming yourself. So what if you kicked him out?"

"So what if I kicked him out? Thalia, if I hadn't kicked him out, he'd be standing here with us!"

Thalia turned her back to me.

"What was this argument even about? You never told me," she asked.

"It's complicated," I replied simply.

"I have time."

"Well, I don't. I have to go." I tried walking away but Thalia turned around, fast as lightning.

"No, tell me."

She had grabbed my shoulder and was forcing me to face her. Gods, she was strong. I was probably at least three years older than her now. Well, not counting the immortality of course.

"Fine," I succumbed to her icy stare. "Well, it all started when—"

A scream pierced the summer air.

Both of us perked up instantly. Almost like what a dog would do when their master comes home.

"What was that?" Thalia whispered.

"I don't know."

We waited for a couple of seconds. Everything was silent. There were no sounds of distress or anything. Chiron's unmistakable, deep voice boomed throughout the camp, amplified by some sort of magic,

"We are under attack! I repeat, Camp Half Blood is under attack!"

Thalia and I met each other's eyes, making a silent note in both of our head to continue this conversation later. We pulled out our weapons and started sprinting towards the now brewing commotion.

**Thanks for reading! Please review and such, it really helps! :)**

**PS. I'm not one of those authors that requests reviews to keep getting chapters out. I'll keep posting stuff even if nobody reviews. However, that doesn't mean they aren't encouraging! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm sooo sorry about the terrible wait. I've just had a bad case of writer's block. I think it's over now that I've re-read the entire first series (TLT through TLO), so I think you can expect new chapters coming out. Unfortunately, I have no idea where I'm going with Felix. =P**

**Never the less, enjoy!**

_**Annabeth**_

Wind whistled in my ears as we ran.

We had heard nothing else from Chiron after he announced that the camp was under attack. I didn't really notice anything different happening in this part of the forest; except maybe there was a slight lacking of the wood nymphs. Even if Thalia was younger than me—minus the immortality, of course—she was still much faster.

I was stopped in my tracks when I heard a voice.

Not just any voice, _his_ voice.

Percy.

It spoke softly and calmly,

"Annabeth, be prepared."

I couldn't move or speak. Thalia whizzed past me, for she was still sprinting. I somehow had stopped mid-step. I was literally frozen in time, which freaked me out. For a moment, I worried that Kronos was somehow still around and that this whole attack was his doing.

Thalia ran back after noticing I wasn't following her anymore.

"Annabeth! Come on! We have to go help!" She tugged at my arm. I wanted to move, but I couldn't. Percy's voice was too captivating. As much as I wanted to go, I just… couldn't. I didn't know what it was, but I _had_ to hear whatever Percy had to say.

"Percy?" I breathed. Thalia looked perplexed.

"Percy?" She repeated.

"Shhh."

I waited for Percy to speak again.

Nothing.

I took a glance at Thalia, who looked genuinely worried about my sanity.

"Annabeth… Percy's not here."

That brought me back to reality. I composed myself and gave a short nod to Thalia, who seemed to understand. What she didn't understand is that I had _definitely_ heard Percy.

_It could've been a Cyclops_

No! Stop thinking like that. Percy's trying to warn you about something.

_But you know, Cyclopses enjoy toying with their food like that. All of them are evil._

No they're not! What about Tyson?

It was then, in the middle of a debate with my own mind, that Thalia and I broke the crest of the hill we were sprinting up.

It was chaos.

There was a plethora of monsters**—**Dracaena, some Empousa, Hellhounds; you name it—were destroying and pillaging the center of camp.

"How did they get in!" Thalia shouted. I noticed Chiron leading a small squad of campers towards a massive group of monsters.

"On my mark!" I heard him yell. Chiron raised his hand and the squad drew their bows. Chiron was about to give the order to fire when an earth shaking explosion rocketed the small squad a couple feet into the air. Chiron yelped in surprise as he was thrown off balance.

Thalia shook my shoulder,

"We have to go help them!"

"How the hell did all of these _things_ get in here!" I demanded to no one in particular.

"I don't know," Thalia glanced over her shoulder; looking behind us. "We need to go, _now_!" I turned my head a couple degrees and saw why our departure was so urgent.

Four hellhounds had strayed from the crowd of monsters and had targeted us. They were galloping (do Hellhounds gallop?) towards us at top speed.

Thalia didn't hesitate to push me over the small cliff that we were on; we were using it to survey the scene below us.

I screamed as I fell for what seemed like a couple of seconds.

I felt an agonizing pain in my ankle as I hit the ground. My vision blacked out and I lost all sense of awareness.

I heard Thalia's somewhat muffled voice call my name from above. I couldn't respond, I could barely lift my own head. I opened my eyes and saw that everything was blurry and seemed to be spinning out of control. I saw a pair of silvery boots smash down onto the ground next to my face. A muffled voice was yelling at me to get up.

"Thals?"

"Sorry Annabeth! I thought you were prepared." I tried to pull myself up, but sharp pain shot through my arm, causing me to grimace. A roar sounded from above us. The four hellhounds were gaping down at us with hungry, scorching eyes.

"Come on," Thalia said as she scooped me up.

_**Thalia**_

I didn't know exactly why I decided to push Annabeth off a forty foot cliff. It just kind of seemed like the only logical thing to do. Granted I almost killed her, but there's no need to go into that now. The hellhounds that were currently standing where Annabeth and I were standing only a couple of seconds ago were glaring daggers in our direction. Luckily enough, they didn't seem to have the guts to jump the cliff and were trying to find another way down. Annabeth struggled in my arms as I carried her towards the only place that I thought was safe for anybody, the Big House.

Chiron spotted me with Annabeth in my arms,

"Thalia, what happened?" He trotted over to us, slinging his bow over his shoulder.

"She fell," I lied.

"Get her inside," he gestured toward the Big House. A couple of monsters were surrounding the building, but they were being fought off by some campers. I raced up the steps and kicked open the door. There was a collective number of screams from inside at my sudden appearance, but they quickly subsided.

"I need someone to tend to her. I would do it, but I have to go help outside. Does anyone here know medicine?" I slowly lowered Annabeth onto one of the nearby sofas. A meek looking kid raised his hand,

"I could take care of her. What happened?"

"She fell."

"Fell? How far?"

"About forty feet." The camper gave me a weird look, but quickly shook it off.

"We need to get her some ambrosia and nectar. If it was just a fall, that stuff should do the trick."

"Genius… Are you a real medic?"

"Um… no, not really."

"That's what I thought." I heard Chiron's unmistakable battle cry from outside. "I have to go."

I drew my bow and nocked an arrow. I scanned for targets. There were a ton of monsters chasing the less fortunate campers around, waving their swords—or claws—at them. I took aim and turned a good number of them into dust.

After a little while shooting monsters and helping others, I ran out of arrows. I pulled out my hunting knives and went to work. I ducked and weaved in and about the waves of relentless monsters. Snake women crumpled, rogue Cyclopeses (I tried not to think of Tyson, Percy's half-brother), and worse disintegrated by my hand. Throughout the battle I caught glimpses of some familiar faces fighting amongst the crowd.

I was about to strike down an injured hellhound when something caught my eye.

Time seemed to slow down as he approached at a leisurely pace, almost like he didn't mind taking his time. He looked gaunt, like he'd been living in the wild. I don't exactly know what happened next, but the battles around me suddenly stopped. I looked around and realized that time had stopped. I was frozen in time.

I glanced back up at the person approaching. There was only one person I knew that had those sea-green eyes.

Percy.

I'd been putting off Annabeth constantly trying to convince me that she'd seen and even talked to Percy, but now I was experiencing it for myself. It was unreal, to see someone you've lost, right before your eyes.

"Percy?" I finally breathed. He sighed.

"Yes, it's me."

"Wha—what are you doing here?" I stuttered.

"I came for this," he gestured toward the monsters and half-bloods frozen in time around us.

"You caused this?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"Hades did. He wants revenge."

"Revenge for what? On who?"

"Annabeth," his voice choked up. Time seemed to stop, yet again. Only this time, I was frozen as well. I couldn't speak, or move. I could only move my eyes to follow Percy's movement. "I'm just going to take her for a little while, while things calm down up here." He said "up here" like this place was some sort of contamination zone. He made his way to the Big House and strolled inside. When he came out, Annabeth was in his arms. That bastard! He was kidnapping!

"No, it's not kidnapping if it's for the person's own good. I know where Hades won't find us," he said, as if reading my mind. I felt the time jail break around me. The monsters were slowly starting to move again, half-bloods started stirring.

"Don't look for us. Please. It's for your own good." With that, Percy closed off the time barrier and everything jumped into real time. I had to react quickly to parry a strike aimed at my head moments before Percy showed up. I quickly dealt with the monster and sprinted for Chiron.

I reached him while he was about to slice a demon in half with his sword. The monster disappeared in a cloud of dust and Chiron sheathed his blade. He noticed me and a look of concern filled his face.

"What's wrong, my child?"

"It's Annabeth, she's gone." Chiron looked perplexed.

"Gone? How?" I didn't think there was any logical way to explain this to the thousands of years old Centaur, but I took my best shot.

"She was taken by somebody who should be dead."

**Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry this took so long. **

_**Annabeth**_

Darkness. That was all I could see. My eyes were open, that was for sure. I could feel the wind blowing against them, but it was dark. So dark I couldn't see my outstretched arm two feet in front of me. But I couldn't move my arm. I couldn't move at all.

A shrill scream pierced the silence. My heart rate skyrocketed into the heavens while I strained against my bonds.

I stopped my struggling when I heard a very familiar voice.

"Annabeth, please don't struggle. You're going to hurt yourself." His voice was ragged and worn, but it was undoubtedly Percy Jackson's.

"Percy?" I breathed incredulously.

"Yes. I'm sorry I had to... Eh..."

"Kidnap me!?"

"Yeah..."

"Percy!"

"Sorry. I just... Really wanted to see you. But that's not why I actually took you. You're in danger."

Percy released me and we sat in a small clearing. I looked up and observed that there wasn't any signs of the sky. Must be one place.

The Underworld.

"Actually, we're deeper than the underworld. Somewhere Hades would never think to look for you," Percy said, as if reading my mind.

"Hades is looking for me? Why? What does he want?"

"You."

"Hmm, very specific."

"Yep."

My eyes drifted to the ground. Even after all the things that I had said that one night, I still loved him. I still wanted him to be mine. I glanced up and noticed Percy was staring.

"What is it?" I inquired.

"I... Um... Sorry."

"No, tell me what you were thinking about. We're still friends, right?"

"That's just it, I hate being dead."

"Who wouldn't..."

"Valid point. But still. Annabeth... I miss you. I miss you so, so much. I hate not being able to see you. I hate that we can't even touch anymore." To express his distress further, he tried to grab my hand, but to no avail. It only passed through and sent a chill up my arm. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.

"Oh, Annabeth... I didn't mean to make you cry," Percy said gently.

"But what you said is so true about me too. I hate that you died. I hate being alone. I hate myself!"

"Why on earth would you hate yourself?"

"Because I caused this!" I stared at the ground and sighed. "Because I fucking caused this."

"Whoa... You're not one to swear."

"Can you not take anything seriously, Seaweed Brain?"

"Sorry. Just being a ghost here."

I let out a long sigh when a thought occurred to me,

"Wait... If we're deeper than the underworld..." I got up off my feet and sprinted a couple paces to the left. Over a small incline a vast field of fire spread for miles. Inside the field, I saw souls (and worse) being tortured to no end. Percy had come up behind me.

"Yes, we're in Tartarus."

**_Thalia_**

"She was taken by someone who should be dead."

The words felt strange coming out of my mouth. Chiron's eyes widened to the point where his normally handsome features looked quite freakish.

"Excuse me?"

That was all he seemed to manage.

"You heard me. Percy took her."

"But, that's impossible. Utterly impossible."

"Well, why don't you go and see if Annabeth's still there when you look for her. Or you can trust me."

"I-I trust you."

The world seemed to crumble around me as once again time seemed to slow down.

"Not again," I breathed.

"What in the name of..." Chiron trailed off.

The strange phenomenon seemed to vanish as quickly as it had appeared. But I didn't feel like the presence had entirely left. Something was still watching us. It felt like pairs of eyes were everywhere, watching our every move. Chiron shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't like this. I don't know exactly what's going on, but it can't be good."

"You don't say," I said sarcastically.

"We need to send a search party immediately."

"Well, lets just hope the search party is comfortable with the Underworld."

"Excuse me?"

"Never mind. I'll go," I volunteered. Chiron shook his head.

"No, you can't go alone. Take two people with you."

Who would be eligible to go with me to the Underworld? Well, I had one certain death-worm in mind.

But who else?

**I hope that was good :)**


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